Anonymous said

I got a comment on my last post. That almost never happens anymore so I was, of course, very happy about it, at least until I read it. Oh my God I say. It was so harsh that I feel compelled to comment on it. I could of course have just denied it but I'm not censoring anyone just because they're negative towards me. Red text is random anonymous person's.

I have read most of your essays,you know what?

Well thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog. It's always nice to hear that someone does.

,I think that you are so racist,cause when it comes to your foreigner friends you mention their names,and when it comes to Arabs you say "the Jordanian guy" for example.I think he deserves more than not mentioning his name.

Ok, comment noted. I do believe that I used the phrase "random Jordanian guy" and that only because that was just what he was. Neither me nor Jamie knew him from before and at least I'll never see him again. He was very nice though, and unlike you he did give me his name. That doesn't mean that I have to write it here though...

You also write that I mention the names of my foreigner friends. That is true to some extent. I've been very restrictive when it comes to writing names here and most of the times I don't. Even in my last post about the trip to Turkey only a few people are mentioned by name.

Its a shame you have been living in Syria for a couple of monthes and non of Syrian names was mentioned,its either cause you are isolated with no friends-then why did you come here-or you are too racist and you feel that Arabs are not worth mentioning.

You never considered the possibility that this has been done intentionally? It is in no way a matter of course that people want me to publish their names here. I'm not that adamant about not publishing foreigners names here and that's why I do that every now and then but only when it comes to close friends and only when I feel the need to do so.

When it comes to Arabs I'm even more restrictive and have a no name policy. Maybe that is a bit racist but I don't want to make anyone's life any harder than it already is.

So Anonymous. I hope that you in the future try other options than just screaming racism when you see something you don't understand at first. Thinking is a good thing, try that first, it does wonders all around the world every day.

And if you want to be taken seriously you might want to consider what tone you use when you write people and also not to sign comments as Anonymous.